Thursday, July 28, 2011

Fiduciary rights.

Lets talk about fiduciary rights today. In any venture many people contribute to its success. And everyone has rights. But it is not easy to quantify. One measure that is used to throw some light is called fiduciary rights ie the quantum of financial outlay in any venture.

Lets take the case of developing a National Player. Who are involved? Arguably the Associations, sponsors, organisers, trainers, coaches, parents and the players themselves. Each have rights. So lets use this fiduciary measure to try to quantify.

The law is not very lenient to businesses since they are deemed to have measured their sponsorship vs their returns before sponsoring. We can also roughly say the trainers, coaches, organisers have been paid for services rendered.

So where does the money come from to develop our National players? Who pays for the overseas tournaments, the trainers, coaches etc? Sponsors and parents thats who. Now if the case was that the Associations brought in the sponsorships, the weightage shifts. But there are still rights apportioned in each case.

In the Malaysian scenario, the vast bulk of the money comes from the parents. Some have more sponsorship than others. But in the main, it is also the parents that go out to get the sponsorship. So again the weightage remains with the parents. Actually many parents pay out of their own pockets.

So we can argue that the major investor is in fact the parents.

Let us use an example here. Lets take the last Mal/Sing. The sponsor came up with RM1,500 worth of incentives to be shared by all the players. In this case this was arranged by the Federation. How much do you think each parent spent? I am not saying that the sponsors have no rights. I am just saying things must be looked at in a measured and balanced way.

Throw in Asean, Asian youth, Asian Junior, World Youth and World Junior and the picture changes again. Who pays for the trips, the training? Who puts their heart into the training to represent the Country?

So I submit that Organisers do not have carte blanche. And I believe this should be put to the test. An appeal should be submitted to MCF. I trust that MCF will stay true to its first article. It is our right to appeal. Why is that equated to being a trouble maker? Trouble for whom? This is a just and legal due process.

We are not playing marbles here. There is a heavy financial outlay which needs to be respected too. So do follow the argument in the debate. Dont allow yourself to be side tracked by the misdirection and belligerence etc etc.

ps: If a case involves a Perak player, it is also our right to bring the case up to our Regent.